Smoke rises over western Iran as Tehran claims it has crushed a major cross-border incursion by Kurdish fighters advancing from Iraq. Iran says hundreds of militants attempted to open a new front along the Iran–Iraq border, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded with overwhelming force. According to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, infiltrating units suffered heavy losses, while Iranian strikes targeted militant bases inside the Kurdistan Region. Tehran calls the operation part of an Israeli-American plot to destabilise Iran, vowing it will not bow to pressure. The border, officials warn, has now become a battlefield.